Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas friends! We hope you're all having as lovely a day as we are. So far it's gone like this...Wake up, presents, homemade scones and hot chocolate, Christmas music (mostly the Jackson 5, Temptations, and Newman Cates' Christmas Compilation (You've outdone yourself this year Newman)), playing playing playing, lunch, the Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas, naps. Not too shabby.
We began what I think will be a Christmas Eve tradition last night. The boys got to open a gift - new jammies and slippers. Amos is a vision in Christmassy green.
Eli's jammies have Lightening McQueen and Mater, two characters from the movie Cars, with which he is currently obsessed. Eli's goodies from Santa were a basketball hoop, some Cars paraphernalia, and a cooking set. When he walked out of his room this morning he went straight to the hoop and dunked without saying a word. Then he continued to make shots perpetually until his nap.

Practicing for his future team photoshoot.

Luckily, just after we realized his new jammies were giving him a little rash (should've washed them before giving them to him), he opened his present from Moo (Eric's grandmother). She made him a sweet night shirt with racecars on it and a matching quilt! Wardrobe change...
I think night shirts should be the new NBA uniform.
Amos enjoyed a bear from Moo.
It gave him kisses.
He tried to eat his toys from Grandma and Grandpa Decker. Yum!
Grandma and Grandpa Decker also gave Eli an awesome "Ucycling Tuck." All his other toys have been "ucycled' repeatedly.
Santa gave Amos this onsie. Apparently he's a fan of old school rap. Who isn't?
Merry Christmas!

Getting Festive

Sorry for the hiatus. I blame it on two issues: 1)Our camera had an unfortunate run in with some stored breast milk (and surprisingly the trouble shooting section of our camera owner's manual does not have a suggestion for having soaked your camera in breast milk). 2)We've got the bug. There has been much vomiting, etc. for days around here, and you don't want a blog post about that, trust me.
So, in order not to spread the bug to the kiddos in the church nursery, this morning I took the boys downtown to wander amongst the Christmassy goodness.





The only person we risked infecting was the jolly one. We went to see Santa. Now, some of you may know that I (Jessa) am not really a fan. I have a bit of a phobia of the man in red. But, somehow now that I have kiddos to help enjoy the season, it's not so scary. Eli was a touch hesitant about the interaction.
Amos took to Santa immediately. Eli kept his distance, but did tell him Merry Christmas.
As an aside, the Santa (and Mrs. Claus) at Larimer square are awesome. They are a beautiful and friendly pair, and they come every Saturday and Sunday in December and visit with children for free. There is no elaborate (and expensive) photography set-up, but families are invited to snap away with a personal camera.
Eli finally warmed up to Santa when he offered Eli a little reindeer present.
After seeing Santa, kids exit by way of a slide "Christmas Story" style. Thankfully there's no psycho elf to help kids make their exit.
I decided to try giving Amos a sitting sink bath in his little chair. Trouble was, the chair floats.

But he had fun.

Eli's still trying to figure out the nutcracker. It's highly entertaining. Merry Christmas!

The Many Expressions of Amos Mouse

Amos is getting really expressive. So much so that he deserves his own blog post to show off those fabulous faces.
Here he is looking mildly impressed by the most festive apartment in the building (ours. Actually I festified the entire east facing side of the 3rd floor. Hope you're feeling festive neighbors).
Baby it's cold outside.






My favorite! Love this happy little bundle!

NC Adventures

We're in North Carolina for a little vacation. We hadn't planned on coming back this year, but Southwest had a sale, so here we are. We left Denver Monday morning very early. It was 5 degrees as we dragged our stuff--four suitcases, two carry-ons, a stroller, two car seats, a 2 year old, and a 3 month old--through the snow from economy parking. We made it, eventually, and boarded the plane to Nashville.

Eli did pretty well on the flight, especially once he got to watch "car movie" ("Cars"). Amos was pretty unimpressed by his first flight, although he did pretty well. The flight was maybe half full, and it's amazing how big a perimeter you can get from having a toddler and an infant on board. Nobody sat anywhere near us, until this family with FOUR kids plopped down nearby.
Yesterday morning we took Eli down to the playground. Amos found a warm place to snuggle.
Eli learned how to walk on the balance beam at his gymnastics class, so he showed off his skills at the playground.
Just taking it all in.
After a couple of days of being in airplanes and cars and stuck in the house, Eli was glad to get out and about.
Steering the ship.
Eli loves throwing rocks into the creek.
This was his last rock, a very big one. Note the big splash.
Afterward, we gave the kids a bath. This was their first time in the tub together.
Note the differing reactions. Eli thought it was cool, and Amos screamed his head off.
Amos, post-bath.
He's starting to drool quite a bit. Maybe a tooth is coming?
He's super-smiley lately, and we've even had a little bit of laughing from him (but haven't gotten it on video).
Amos has found his toes. He likes to gnaw on them.
Yesterday afternoon we went to see our friends Priscilla and Russell, and their daughter Abby, who was born 3 days before Amos. We're arranging a marriage.
Eli wasn't sure why everyone wanted to just sit around and talk.
Merry Christmas!